ABSOLUTION aka HERMITAGE II by Anthony Collins Pegasus Software Spectrum 128 never released – demo version This incomplete game, never released, has the ambience of Hermitage I, with evocative descriptions and language. You play the part of Albert the monk, suffering after the death of your friend Ambrose, a fellow monk. The game begins with a long introduction: a nightmare where you see Ambrose experiencing his death. You go to the abbot who tells you to go to Lonnen and lay his ghost aside. You begin at the entrance of the monastery. INVENTORY (you have biscuits), N, EXAMINE SHADOW (you get a rope), W, W (in Ambrose's room), EXAMINE TABLE, EXAMINE BED, MOVE BED (you see a skeleton), EXAMINE SKELETON (you see an arm and get a dagger), E, E, E (in the Abbot's office), MOVE RUBBLE (you see an arm), EXAMINE ARM (you get a ring), W, W, N, W, EXAMINE GLASS (you get a beam), E, E, EXAMINE PLINTH (the buds are protruding), EXAMINE BUDS (one seems loose), PUSH BUD (you get a phial), EXAMINE PHIAL (full of water), N, EXAMINE RUBBLE (you see a stone block), W (you see a desecrated and pushed over altar), E, TIE ROPE, PULL ROPE (you drag it west), DROP BEAM, UNTIE ROPE, TURN ALTAR (you push it upright). PRAY (You are asked if you wish to get rid of Ambrose's spectre and to enter the light; Ambrose appears and tells you to step away from the light which you do. Ambrose's blue flame destroys the spectre. Ambrose asks for your help to save his soul and tells you to find a doorway to the other dimension and return him to the mortal world. You fall asleep and wake up, see a parchment and take it). EXAMINE PARCHMENT (seek Thomas the sage), S, S, S (there is now an exit down), DOWN, S, E (you see a man), EXAMINE DOORWAY (you get a staff), EXAMINE MAN (in need of nourishment), GIVE BISCUIT, GIVE WATER, PRAY (the man draws a map in the dirt and dies; you go down the mountain and see a cave), UP (you enter the cave and yawn), SLEEP (you awake and see a beast blocking the cave entrance), CUT STAFF, KILL GARGOYLE (it dies), EXAMINE GARGOYLE (you see a talisman), REMOVE TALISMAN, WEAR TALISMAN, DOWN (you are finished the demo). It's a shame that this game was never released. Terri Sheehan 2010-07-01 ***************************************************** Displayed on the Classic Adventures Solution Archive: http://solutionarchive.com